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Eggs With Freshness Dates Officially Roll Out in A&amp;P Stores; More to Follow

MONTVALE, N.J. -- After a testing period that began in May, eggs sold at banners owned by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. here now officially feature a technology that enables each egg to be marked with a tamperproof freshness and traceability code.

July 17, 2006, 08:00 pm

MONTVALE, N.J. -- After a testing period that began in May, eggs sold at banners owned by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. here now officially feature a technology that enables each egg to be marked with a tamperproof freshness and traceability code.

The value-added service is provided by Deerfield Park, Ill.-based EggFusion. The codes appear on America's Choice Conventional eggs, which are available in more than 275 of A&P's stores under the banners A&P, A&P Super Foodmart, Super Fresh, Waldbaum's, and Food Emporium.

Developed to ensure consumers are getting the freshest eggs possible, EggFusion's patent-pending laser-marking technology allows consumers to quickly determine the freshness and origin of each egg even when it's been removed from the carton.

"Fresh and safe food are two of the most important selling points for any grocer," said EggFusion c.e.o. Shaun Emerson in a statement. "We offer retailers a value-added service they can use to provide their customers with increased confidence in the freshness of the eggs they purchase for themselves and their families."

By going to participating retailers' Web sites or MyFreshEgg.com and entering their traceability code, shoppers can get such information as where and when the egg was packaged.

EggFusion said it is collaborating with producers and retailers across the country to expand the reach of freshness and traceability coding so more consumers can take advantage of its benefits. By the fall, it expects the eggs to be available at retailers in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The company anticipates coast-to-coast distribution by the end of this year.

The freshness and traceability coding has a foundation in commercial enterprise; it is sponsored by On-egg Messaging, a service available to companies "seeking innovative promotional vehicles," One such seeker is CBS, which said this week that it will use the service to feature information about its shows on more than 35 million eggs.

On-egg Messaging allows advertisers to reach consumers with release dates, URLs, sweepstakes, promotional offers, or other communications, in the store and in the kitchen. A percentage of all available On-egg Messaging inventory goes to charitable and nonprofit organizations, said EggFusion.